Our little dude starts at his new school where his love for learning will continue to grow. A few weeks ago, he and his new classmates attended a new student camp as a way to help them all assimilate to their new environment. As I dropped him off at camp, his reaction was not what I expected. The students were divided into three groups, with a colored name tag of yellow, blue, and green. As we walked into the school, our little guy saw a familiar face with a yellow tag. At the registration desk, the tag our little guy received was green. The mom alert inside me went off. I proceeded to the gymnasium and saw a nervous little boy walk in, as I turned around to leave, there he was running back to me with tears in eyes. In that moment, I understood his feeling. There is no simple way to put it – Change is hard. And this had me thinking about how organizations help employees navigate change when they start a new job.
The unemployment rate is 3.9%, the lowest it’s been in almost two decades. Organizations continue to invest a lot of time and resources to find the best talent, and candidates are being selective in choosing their next employer. All this hard work inevitably leads to a new chapter, a new beginning in someone’s career.
I found this great onboarding article on SHRM, written by Roy Maurer, Online Manager / Editor, Talent Acquisition with SHRM. He starts by saying, “new employee onboarding is the process of integrating a new employee with a company and its culture, as well as getting a new hire the tools and information needed to become a productive member of the team.” – I couldn’t agree more!
This had me thinking, what are some ways Recruiters and HR professionals work together to create a seamless onboarding process? Among many ways, the following two are most important:
Consistency is key. It is important for Recruiters and HR professionals to join forces and create a consistent, concise message for a positive onboarding experience. Recruiters are instrumental in attracting talent for organizations, and HR is influential in retaining employees for organizations. The result is that both roles ensure that as applicants move to becoming employees, there is no difference in how they are treated through the process.
What’s branding got to do with it? Attracting talent is no easy feat. Because job seekers have choices. Recruiters work hard to craft messages that keep applicants feeling welcomed and engage, and HR follows through with the same message. However, when it comes to communicating an employer brand, Recruiters and HR shouldn’t be the sole messengers.
As organizations continue to compete to attract great talent, Recruiters and HR will work together to provide consistency and build a solid reputation to achieve corporate success. This will give organizations a competitive edge to exceed in their organizational hiring goals.
To our little dude, your journey is just beginning, so do you…
“And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)
KID, YOU’LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!”
― Dr. Seuss, Oh, The Places You’ll Go!
Michelle Kohlhof is a Senior Human Resources Business Partner with a large IT government contracting firm in the Northern Virginia area. She has 14 years of diverse human resources experience supporting small to large-size organizations. Her experience includes leading HR initiatives in the areas of policy design, compensation, performance management, compliance reporting, HRIS implementations, HR workflow development, learning and development, and benefits administration.
Prior to her current role, Michelle held HR leadership positions for various government contractor and commercial organizations. While at these organizations, Michelle honed her skills and has tailored them towards supporting federal government contractors. She has a strong passion for working with people, and partners with senior management in building their employer brand, while supporting front-line managers with developing their teams.
Michelle earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Human Resources Management from University of Maryland University College. She is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and Northern Virginia Society for Human Resource Management (NOVA SHRM). Michelle is the blogger behind Pocketful of Chelles, a personal blog inspiring you to discover your own new adventure that will make you smile - because there is more to life than the nine-to-five grind. You can connect with Michelle on LinkedIn or follow her on Twitter at @MKohlHR.
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